美国国家公共电台 NPR Preschool Suspensions Really Happen And That's Not OK With Connecticut

Preschool Suspensions Really Happen And That's Not OK With Connecticut 

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Now to one of the biggest challenges American schools face right now - meeting the mental-health needs of students. This morning, we're going to focus on the youngest brains in the system - preschoolers. In 2012, some 6,700 children enrolled² in public pre-K around the country were suspended. Experts argue that suspending a 3 or 4-year-old, no matter how bad the behavior, is a bad idea. New research out this week highlights a powerful alternative to simply sending a child home. Cory Turner of the NPR Ed Team has the story.

CORY TURNER, BYLINE³: It's play time for Ms. Terrie Walker's preschool class. They're bouncing off the walls of a small YMCA gymnasium in a low-income neighborhood of Bridgeport, Conn. While most kids play tag, one boy, wearing bright orange socks, heads straight for a crate⁴ in the corner.

There, among the balls and cones⁵, he finds a long, plastic stick, and he starts swinging it at the nearest child. Ms. Terrie, as the kids call her, quickly steps in. But listen to how she does it.

TERRIE WALKER: It's too high. OK, let's put it low. All right, there we go. High five.

TURNER: In many preschools, the words no, stop and don't get thrown around like glitter, but not in Ms. Terrie's class. Instead, she turns the boy's stick into a game - a bar that he - and soon everybody else - wants to jump over.

WALKER: Yes, you did it.

TURNER: Social worker Maria Santos, who's been watching and coaching Ms. Terrie, can barely contain her excitement.

MARIA SANTOS: That's, like, the perfect example of gentle redirection and, you know, telling children what to do instead of what not to do, right, because that's how they're going to learn.

TURNER: Santos is part of a program run out of Connecticut's Department of Children and Families that's meant to help any pre-K teacher or childcare provider in the state who's having trouble with a disruptive child. It's called the Early Childhood Consultation⁶ Partnership⁷, or ECCP. And before we get to how it works, it appears that it does work.

WALTER GILLIAM: The children who got the intervention⁸ had a significant decrease in the types of challenging behaviors that are likely to lead to a classroom expulsion or suspension.

TURNER: That's Walter Gilliam at Yale. He and his research team have studied the program for years and just published their latest findings. While it's tough to know if ECCP has long-term benefits, the short term results, just reported in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry⁹, were impressive. That doesn't surprise Michelle Genest. She's assistant director of childcare at that Bridgeport Y and calls ECCP phenomenal. Because so many kids there struggle with poverty, hunger and trauma¹⁰, Genest says, disruptive behavior is a common challenge.

MICHELLE GENEST: We've had children attempt to run out of the building, throw furniture. We've had children severely¹¹ injure other children.

TURNER: Still, Genest says, suspension never makes sense. And she sees ECCP, which costs just over $2 million a year, as a vital investment in the mental health of Connecticut's most vulnerable kids.

GENEST: You have to start it now. And if you pump all of your resources in to making productive little people, they are going to grow up to be productive members of society.

TURNER: Here's how it works - for three months, Maria Santos drops in and out of Ms. Terrie's classroom, offering subtle pointers. The boy with orange socks acts out when he's bored, so give him a front seat at circle time. When he lashes¹² out, it's not anger, but frustration¹³. He's 3, and words don't come easily for him. On this day, after free play, Santos sits with the boy and a little girl at the blocks table. When he snatches a toy from her...

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: That hurt my feelings.

SANTOS: That hurt your feelings? Can you help us come up with a solution to our problem? You both want to play with that wheel.

TURNER: With Ms. Terrie watching, Santos deftly¹⁴ gets the kids building together.

SANTOS: Oh, so now there's a bridge, and there's a stop sign at the end of the bridge.

TURNER: A big part of Santos' job is also building figurative bridges between teachers and parents - in this case, between Ms. Terrie and the boy's grandmother. The problem is many pre-K teachers, they don't have the time to do this alone, and they're certainly not paid to do it, often earning less than parking attendants and bellhops. And it's not just teachers who welcome the help.

ANNIE: Caitlyn helped me kind of view our daughter, Ruby¹⁵, in a new lens.

TURNER: Annie, a mother in Greenwich, Conn., struggled to make sense of her 4-year-old's defiant¹⁶ behavior. With the help of ECCP consultant¹⁷ Caitlyn Dunn, she and her husband, Greg, who are also expecting, had several breakthroughs with Ruby, including this one.

GREG: She was very nervous about her baby brother coming, and she was afraid that we would love baby brother more than we love her.

TURNER: But being 4, it was hard for Ruby to say that. Instead...

LIZ BICIO: Behavior is the language of the child.

TURNER: That's Liz Bicio, a licensed¹⁸ clinical social worker and director of ECCP. And those may be the seven most important words in this whole story, so I'm going to play them again.

BICIO: Behavior is the language of the child.

TURNER: Not only that, says Bicio, behavior is usually a symptom of something else, often stress, though it can be an early red flag for mental illness. With her consultants¹⁹, she wants to help teachers and parents get past the symptom to the source. If you don't...

BICIO: It's kind of like saying you have a major illness and part of it is a cough, and we're going to give you a cough drop.

TURNER: To be clear, ECCP isn't just focused on disruptive kids. Bicio's two dozen consultants spend much of their time working classroom-wide, helping²⁰ teachers build vital social-emotional skills in all of their students. That can mean teaching kids the turtle technique.

If something bad happens, go into your shell, take three deep breaths and think calm thoughts. Or my favorite - setting up a cozy²¹ corner. Ms. Terrie in Bridgeport, she has one. Five-year-old Madison points me to it - a nook in the back wall padded with pillows and stuffed animals.

MADISON: If you cry for your mom, then you can go in the corner.

TURNER: Oh, really?

MADISON: Yeah.

TURNER: Have you guys ever needed to use the cozy corner?

MADISON: I did because I was - I didn't want to school that one day.

TURNER: Instead of punishing big feelings, teachers need to respect and help kids manage them. For Ms. Terrie, that also means...

WALKER: Let's do some meditation²². Everybody's eyes are closed. Let's go. Breathe in. Breathe out.

TURNER: Since ECCP began, it's reached more than 30,000 children. And of the many preschoolers it's helped directly, 98 percent were still suspension-free six months later, which means more kids on Ms. Terrie's big, red rug celebrating their graduation to kindergarten.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILDREN: (Singing) I'm that star up in the sky. I'm that mountain peak up high.

TURNER: Cory Turner, NPR News, Bridgeport, Conn.

1 browser   

n.浏览者

参考例句：

• View edits in a web browser.在浏览器中看编辑的效果。
• I think my browser has a list of shareware links.我想在浏览器中会有一系列的共享软件链接。

2 enrolled   

adj.入学登记了的v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的过去式和过去分词 )；登记，招收，使入伍（或入会、入学等），参加，成为成员；记入名册；卷起，包起

参考例句：

• They have been studying hard from the moment they enrolled. 从入学时起，他们就一直努力学习。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He enrolled with an employment agency for a teaching position. 他在职业介绍所登了记以谋求一个教师的职位。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 crate   

vt.(up)把…装入箱中；n.板条箱，装货箱

参考例句：

• We broke open the crate with a blow from the chopper.我们用斧头一敲就打开了板条箱。
• The workers tightly packed the goods in the crate.工人们把货物严紧地包装在箱子里。

5 cones   

n.（人眼）圆锥细胞；圆锥体( cone的名词复数 )；球果；圆锥形东西；（盛冰淇淋的）锥形蛋卷筒

参考例句：

• In the pines squirrels commonly chew off and drop entire cones. 松树上的松鼠通常咬掉和弄落整个球果。 来自辞典例句
• Many children would rather eat ice cream from cones than from dishes. 许多小孩喜欢吃蛋卷冰淇淋胜过盘装冰淇淋。 来自辞典例句

6 consultation   

n.咨询；商量；商议；会议

参考例句：

• The company has promised wide consultation on its expansion plans.该公司允诺就其扩展计划广泛征求意见。
• The scheme was developed in close consultation with the local community.该计划是在同当地社区密切磋商中逐渐形成的。

7 partnership   

n.合作关系，伙伴关系

参考例句：

• The company has gone into partnership with Swiss Bank Corporation.这家公司已经和瑞士银行公司建立合作关系。
• Martin has taken him into general partnership in his company.马丁已让他成为公司的普通合伙人。

8 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

9 psychiatry   

n.精神病学，精神病疗法

参考例句：

• The study appeared in the Amercian science Journal of Psychiatry.这个研究发表在美国精神病学的杂志上。
• A physician is someone who specializes in psychiatry.精神病专家是专门从事精神病治疗的人。

10 trauma   

n.外伤，精神创伤

参考例句：

• Counselling is helping him work through this trauma.心理辅导正帮助他面对痛苦。
• The phobia may have its root in a childhood trauma.恐惧症可能源于童年时期的创伤。

11 severely   

adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地

参考例句：

• He was severely criticized and removed from his post.他受到了严厉的批评并且被撤了职。
• He is severely put down for his careless work.他因工作上的粗心大意而受到了严厉的批评。

12 lashes   

n.鞭挞( lash的名词复数 )；鞭子；突然猛烈的一击；急速挥动v.鞭打( lash的第三人称单数 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥

参考例句：

• Mother always lashes out food for the children's party. 孩子们聚会时，母亲总是给他们许多吃的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Never walk behind a horse in case it lashes out. 绝对不要跟在马后面，以防它突然猛踢。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

14 deftly   

adv.灵巧地，熟练地，敏捷地

参考例句：

• He deftly folded the typed sheets and replaced them in the envelope. 他灵巧地将打有字的纸折好重新放回信封。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• At last he had a clew to her interest, and followed it deftly. 这一下终于让他发现了她的兴趣所在，于是他熟练地继续谈这个话题。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹

15 ruby   

n.红宝石，红宝石色

参考例句：

• She is wearing a small ruby earring.她戴着一枚红宝石小耳环。
• On the handle of his sword sat the biggest ruby in the world.他的剑柄上镶有一颗世上最大的红宝石。

16 defiant   

adj.无礼的，挑战的

参考例句：

• With a last defiant gesture,they sang a revolutionary song as they were led away to prison.他们被带走投入监狱时，仍以最后的反抗姿态唱起了一支革命歌曲。
• He assumed a defiant attitude toward his employer.他对雇主采取挑衅的态度。

17 consultant   

n.顾问；会诊医师，专科医生

参考例句：

• He is a consultant on law affairs to the mayor.他是市长的一个法律顾问。
• Originally,Gar had agreed to come up as a consultant.原来，加尔只答应来充当我们的顾问。

18 licensed   

adj.得到许可的v.许可，颁发执照(license的过去式和过去分词)

参考例句：

• The new drug has not yet been licensed in the US. 这种新药尚未在美国获得许可。
• Is that gun licensed? 那支枪有持枪执照吗？

19 consultants   

顾问( consultant的名词复数 )； 高级顾问医生，会诊医生

参考例句：

• a firm of management consultants 管理咨询公司
• There're many consultants in hospital. 医院里有很多会诊医生。

20 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

21 cozy   

adj.亲如手足的，密切的，暖和舒服的

参考例句：

• I like blankets because they are cozy.我喜欢毛毯，因为他们是舒适的。
• We spent a cozy evening chatting by the fire.我们在炉火旁聊天度过了一个舒适的晚上。

22 meditation   

n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录

参考例句：

• This peaceful garden lends itself to meditation.这个恬静的花园适于冥想。
• I'm sorry to interrupt your meditation.很抱歉，我打断了你的沉思。